Financial control best practices

MANILA, Philippines - The Center for Global Best Practices (CGBP), in collaboration with Isla Lipana/ PriceWaterhouseCoopers, is holding a one-day seminar titled, “Best Practices in Financial Processes and Controls” on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013 at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City, Philippines.

Participants in this special program will learn the best practices on how to design and implement financial controls that will safeguard their assets, enhance integrity of financial reports, and protect their business from operational risks. For more details, check www.cgbp.org. You may also contact CGBP at (02) 556-8968/ 69 or (02) 842-7148/ 59; Cebu lines (032) 512-3106/ 07; Baguio tel. (074) 423-5148.

Whether you are a corporate giant or a small family-owned firm, your business systems and operational processes can only function efficiently and effectively if you have the right internal controls.

Left unchecked and not given attention, your internal control system is where much “hocus pocus”, such as fraud, theft, fake financial transactions and other business crimes, often take place.

In the aftermath of numerous business scandals that have led to the collapse and business failure of even the biggest companies and marquee brands, the subject of internal controls has taken a global centerstage.

Governments have instituted stricter regulations for publicly-listed companies to curb internal controls manipulations; moreover, private companies around the world that espouse best practices are investing more of their resources to strengthen all possible weaknesses in their financial processes and controls.

Effective internal controls are crucial to a company’s operations. It is your “regulator” and defense against losses in key areas like procurement, payroll, sales, cash disbursements and other business activities needed to complete a business transaction. Internal controls can “help an entity get to where it wants to go, and avoid pitfalls and surprises along the way”.

If you’re thinking of growth, all the business experts in the world would tell you in chorus and in very loud and clear terms that you can never expand your business successfully and achieve business continuity if your internal controls are not in order. Drive your business growth through effective financial controls. Don’t run your business without it.